Solana: one blockchain, half the users

Key Takeaways

• In June 2025, Solana matched the combined monthly active users of Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum, and other major chains, highlighting a dramatic shift in user engagement across blockchain ecosystems.
• Solana is generating real revenue from deep user engagement across DeFi, gaming, payments, and NFTs – proving its monetisation engine is already in motion.

In June 2025, Solana’s monthly active users matched the total of key Layer 1 (L1) and Layer 2 (L2) blockchains. You read that right. One blockchain, Solana, is pulling the same number of users as Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum, and countless others – combined.

That is not hype. It is raw market domination, and it sends a clear message: Solana is where the people are.

Figure 1: Share of monthly active users

Dominating every vertical

Solana is not just playing in multiple verticals – it is dominating them. From decentralised finance (DeFi) to gaming, payments to non-fungible tokens (NFTs), social apps to microtransactions – this is a chain firing on all cylinders:

• DeFi: Solana allows for extremely fast and cheap trading of digital assets, including lending and derivatives platforms. Unlike some blockchains, it can handle high activity volumes without slowing down, making it ideal for serious crypto traders.
  
• Gaming: developers can build smooth-running, real-time multiplayer games on Solana. The blockchain’s performance enables Web3 games that feel like traditional ones, but with the added benefit of player-owned economies.
  
• Payments: Solana Pay enables instant, almost fee-free transactions, making it feel like sending a message. Compared to traditional payment systems, it is faster and more efficient.
  
• NFTs: Solana is becoming a hub for NFTs thanks to a feature called “compressed NFTs”, making it cheap to create many digital collectables. This has attracted a wave of creators and projects.
  
• Social apps: apps like Dialect use Solana to let users send messages and manage identities on the blockchain. These apps aim to give users more control and ownership over their data.
  
• Microtransactions: Solana's speed and low costs for small payments – such as tipping in messaging apps or trading viral meme coins – make it one of the few practical choices.

This is not surface-level activity. It is deep, sticky user engagement. No other chain comes close to Solana’s breadth and depth across monetizable use cases.

Revenue engines in motion

Where there is usage, there is money. Solana is converting engagement into revenue faster than any other chain. Unlike ecosystems reliant on speculative hype, Solana’s monetisation engine is fuelled by real users doing real things, constantly.

Figure 2: Daily transactions, in millions

• Transactions fees: Solana handles tens of millions of transactions every day. Even though each one costs less than a cent, the volume makes it add up quickly. These small fees are essential as apps like trading bots, games, and tipping platforms rely on them to work.
  
• Extra fees during busy times: When many people use Solana simultaneously, users can pay a little more to get their transactions processed faster. This system helps Solana earn more when the network is in high demand and is especially useful for trading apps and automated bots.
  
• Low-cost NFTs: Solana makes it cheap to create vast numbers of NFTs (digital collectables). This has opened the door for projects such as DRiP and Tensor to build large-scale businesses around creators and digital art.
  
• Everyday spending: Some apps on Solana, like Helium Mobile or certain game marketplaces, have regular people spending real money – not just moving tokens around for speculation. This real-world usage is still rare in crypto but growing on Solana.
  
• Growing DeFi ecosystem: Solana has its own financial apps where people can lend, borrow, and trade. These platforms earn fees that support developers, users, and validators. Tools like Jupiter are even using advanced trading strategies to boost profits, similar to what you might see in traditional finance.

Solana is not waiting for theoretical monetisation “someday”. It is happening now. The monetisation loop – users, usage, fees – is spinning, and the flywheel is accelerating.

The verdict

Solana is not just leading – it is executing. It owns the users, drives the revenue, and leads the developer momentum with real-world traction, not vapourware.

If you are still clinging to old assumptions about blockchain winners, it is time to wake up. The future is already here, and it is being built and monetised on Solana.

¹ETP = exchange traded product.

Important Risks Related to this Article
Crypto assets, such as bitcoin and ether, are complex, generally exhibit extreme price volatility and unpredictability, and should be viewed as highly speculative assets. Crypto assets are frequently referred to as crypto “currencies,” but they typically operate without central authority or banks, are not backed by any government or issuing entity (i.e., no right of recourse), have no government or insurance protections, are not legal tender and have limited or no usability as compared to fiat currencies. Federal, state or foreign governments may restrict the use, transfer, exchange and value of crypto assets, and regulation in the U.S. and worldwide is still developing. Crypto asset exchanges and/or settlement facilities may stop operating, permanently shut down or experience issues due to security breaches, fraud, insolvency, market manipulation, market surveillance, KYC/AML (know your customer/anti-money laundering) procedures, non-compliance with applicable rules and regulations, technical glitches, hackers, malware or other reasons, which could negatively impact the price of any cryptocurrency traded on such exchanges or reliant on a settlement facility or otherwise may prevent access or use of the crypto asset. Crypto assets can experience unique events, such as forks or airdrops, which can impact the value and functionality of the crypto asset. Crypto asset transactions are generally irreversible, which means that a crypto asset may be unrecoverable in instances where: (i) it is sent to an incorrect address, (ii) the incorrect amount is sent, or (iii) transactions are made fraudulently from an account. A crypto asset may decline in popularity, acceptance or use, thereby impairing its price, and the price of a crypto asset may also be impacted by the transactions of a small number of holders of such crypto asset. Crypto assets may be difficult to value and valuations, even for the same crypto asset, may differ significantly by pricing source or otherwise be suspect due to market fragmentation, illiquidity, volatility and the potential for manipulation. Crypto assets generally rely on blockchain technology and blockchain technology is a relatively new and untested technology which operates as a distributed ledger. Blockchain systems could be subject to internet connectivity disruptions, consensus failures or cybersecurity attacks, and the date or time that you initiate a transaction may be different then when it is recorded on the blockchain. Access to a given blockchain requires an individualized key, which, if compromised, could result in loss due to theft, destruction or inaccessibility. In addition, different crypto assets exhibit different characteristics, use cases and risk profiles. Information provided by WisdomTree regarding digital assets, crypto assets or blockchain networks should not be considered or relied upon as investment or other advice, as a recommendation from WisdomTree, including regarding the use or suitability of any particular digital asset, crypto asset, blockchain network or any particular strategy.